Portable flushing and filtering unit



Aug. 19,- 1947. D. vA'wTER PORTABLE FLUSHING AND FILTERING UNIT FiledApril 2, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l wzzeia" Aug. 19, 1947. AW 2,425,848

PORTABLE FLUSHING AND FILTERING UNIT Filed April 2, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet2 9335 MAY VALVE T //5 Y m4:- a mare v 5 v TANK cpoLE 7 23 HEflTEf {V Sh/A) VALVE-.5 I

SIGHT mass ,c r NG FROM TANK 4/ 43 I V 1; .1 3W 45 WaPW Patented Aug.19, 1947 UNITED STAT ES. PATENT F 2;.425,84-8' PORTABLE'FLUSHIN G ANDFILTERING UNIT Dale Vawt'er, Greensburgfa.

Application. April. 2, 1945, Seria1'No.. 586,083.

5 Claims. I;

This invention relatesto a compact and portable filtering unit for.filtering contaminated. fluids which may also be used as a. flushing andafter-it has circulated through the machinery and before. returning itto the machineryto remove any contaminating material from the flushingoil;

In servicing machinery and: automobiles, wherein lubricant for themachinery is contained within a crankcasa'sump', enclosure, housing orcase, it is. necessary to keep the lubricant for the machinery free fromsuspended material which may be. abrasive to. the machinery; It is' alsodesirable to have a portable and. compact unit through which any fluidhaving contaminating material in suspension may pass so that the; con.-taminating material may be removed. It has been the practice, afterremoving lubricant from machinery, to circulate a flushing oil throughthe machinery to Wash away any dirt or solid matter which may havecollected, Within the ma.- chinery. It is desirable to be able to removethe collected dirt and solid matter; from the flushing. oil so theflushing oil may be. reused, again and again.

It is one of the objects of the invention, among others, to provide animproved apparatus or unit for filtering a. contaminated fluid whichapparates may also be used for flushing and cleaning machinery with aflushing oil after which the flushing oil is cleaned of contaminatingmate,- rial by filtering; to provide av unit that is portable andcompact; to provide. a unit that. is readily changed from filteringalone to one where a flushing oil isforced through machinery and theflushing oil is filtered after it has passed through the machinery; to.provide a light-Weight, compact unit capable of being manually handled;to provide a unit that is simple in design and easy to manufacture andassemble; a unit which requires a limited amount, of space for storage;a unit simple to operate which does not call for a specially skilledoperator; a unit wherein the elements are easily replaceable should theywear; a unit of low initial cost; a unit wherein the elements are soarranged that the overall size of the unit is held to a minimum so as toform a highly compact unit of small size, lightweight and low cost; anda unit economical in operation.

In carrying out one use of the invention there is provided a portableand compact filtering unit for cleaning contaminated fluid, thestructure of which comprises a base. member having front andrearportions. On the undersideof the rear portion of the-base-member areconnected wheels for rolling the unit from place to place when desiredwhile the'front' portion of the basemember has a support, which is outof contact with a floor surface when the unit" is moved on the wheelsbut contacts the floor-when the unit is stationary, to support the unitin a vertical position. The front support member may be a wheelmemberand the unit moved by pushing while it is in a vertical position.Ata-nk is mounted on the rear of the base member to hold contaminatedfluid and handles are-mounted on top-of the'tank to; serve as-handgripsfor an operator or operators rolling the filtering; unit fromplace toplace on the wheels; A pump and pump actuating; means are mounted onthefront portion of the base member while a filterelement is mounted onthe front of the tank' and above the pump and pump actuating means. Aconduit connects the filter element-with-the pump; a second condhi-tconnects the filter element to the tank and a: third conduit runs fromthetank to the pump to time make a closed, cycle between the tank; pump,filter element andyback tothe tank. The contaminated fluidneed not be inthe tank but could be afluidfrom any sou-roeor container and conduitsfrom the pumpand filter element connect into the source or container andcomplete, the cycle just as above for-the tank.

In carrying out another use of the invention, or where a flushing andfiltering; operation is desired; the same structure as above isemployed. The tank instead of being filled with contaminatedfluidfill'ed' with a clean flushingoil. When lubricant has been drainedor removed from the machinery; and it is desired to clean the machinery,a flushing oilis forced into the machinery and circulated around to pickup any dirt or grit in the machinery; A conduit connects the. tank tothe pump through a three-Way valve, a. second conduit connects the,filter element to the crankcase of machinery through a second three-wayvalve with a. branch pip onne ting the tank with the filter element.through. the second threeway valve when the three-way valve is operatedto. 'c-losethe conduit between the filter elements and the; machinery. Areturn conduit runs from: the machinery and connects into the firstmentioned three-way valve. w-hichvalve is operable to. connect eitherthe. tank with the pump or the return conduitwi'th the pump.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention will be morefully described hereina a after and will be particularly pointed out inthe claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or correspondingparts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a front and side view in perspective of the flushing andfiltering unit.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view showing a filter element attached tothe tank.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of one use of the invention showing afiltering operation of contaminated fiuid from the tank going throughthe filtering cycle.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of another use of the invention showingthe setting of the flushing and filtering unit preliminary to enteringflushing oil from the tank into the machinery.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view of the same use of the invention asshown in Fig. 4 showing the setting of the flushing and filtering unitafter the unit and machinery are full of flushing oil for recirculation.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view of the same use of the invention asshown in Fig. 4 showing the setting of the fiushing and filtering unitwhen the flushing recirculation has been completed and the flushing oilis being returned to the tank.

Referring now to Figure l, a portable and compact filtering and flushingunit is shown comprising a base member l having front and rear portionsl3 and [4 respectively. To the rear portion Id of the base member it, onsuitable axles, are attached wheels H, one of which is seen in Figure 1,mounted on-suitable ball bearings placed between the axle and wheel hubwith the wheels being of a suificient size and strength to readilysupport the weight of the unit and roll freely when the unit is full orempty. On the front of the base member is mounted a support member !2,which may take the form of a plain strut or maybe a caster as shown inFigure 1. The wheels H and the caster l2 support the unit in a verticalposition when the unit is stationary. On the rear portion M of the basemember is mounted a tank 55 of sheet steel construction welded in a wellknown manner having handles iii and W of bent pipe of approximately inchdiameter, attached to each side at the top of the tank. The handles andll may be manually grasped, the unit tilted backward, thus supportingthe whole weight of the unit on the wheels I I, with the unit rolled onthe wheels i I when a change of location is desired for the unit. Thehandles i6 and il may also be grasped by a hoist and the unittransported in this manner. The tank I5 is of a size that the bottom ofthe tank just fits within the dimensions of the rear portion of the basemember with no overlapping of the base member. The unit weighsapproximately 288 pounds when the tank 15 is empty and when the tank E5is filled with oil, this weight increases to approximately L33 pounds.The unit is manually movable by one man when the tank I5 is full. If thedistance the unit is to be moved is short and the floor smooth and even,it can be pushed on the wheels I I and caster i2. The tank I5 has acleanout opening l8, in the side thereof at the bottom for draining tankI5 and allowing entrance into the interior of tank for cleaning purposesat the tank bottom. On the top of the tank is projection [9 having asuitable cover, which provides an entrance into the tank l5 foradmission of oil thereto, and said projection it! also provides a memberabout which flexible hose mem- Lil 4 bers connecting the unit intomachinery, may be wound when the unit is moved from place to place, tobe more fully described later.

A pump 28 is mounted on the front portion l3 of the base member IE3 byany suitable means such as bolting the pump to the base member F1. Thepump is a positive displacement pump and one type of pump found suitablefor this purpose is a Model ZFH sold by the Viking Pump Company.Suitable actuating means for the pump are provided in electric motor 2!connected to the pump 20 through suitable coupling means 22. A GeneralElectric motor H. P., 1800 R. P. NL, volt A. C., 60 cycle inductionmotor, capacitor starter, resilient base, explosion proof, type K. C.,and frame #75 has been found suitable for this purpose. It is noted thatthe pump actuating means could be a steam, air or hydraulic motor andthat the electric motor is shown as one example of a pump actuatingmeans. The pump 23 and motor 2| are within the confines of base memberIii with no portions of the tank, motor or pump overlapping, hence acompact structure is provided Mounted on the front of the tank :5 andabove the pump 20 and pump actuating means 2! is a filter element whichin the present disclosure comprises two filter elements, 23 and asconnected to the tank by suitable bracket members 25 as clearly shown inFigure 2. The filter elements have a cover member 26, attached to thefilter element by bolts or screws so as to be removable from the filterelement body. The filter elements are filled or packed with an absorbentwaste material which is readily replaceable when the waste materialbecomes dirty and clogged. A petcock 2'! is provided on the bottom ofeach filtering element to drain the filtering element of liquid if itbecomes desirable. The two filtering elements 23 and 24 are connectedtogether by a pipe 23 Two filtering elements 23 and 2 have been shownbut it is to be understood one filtering element may be employed or morethan two filtering elementsmay be used without affecting the method ofoperation. In the present instance two filtering elements were chosenbecause they lent themselves more to a compact arrangement of the unit.Another type of filter element found suitable is the Nugent filter headmanufactured by the Wm. W. Nugent Co., of Chicago, Illinois, andidentified as their Fig. No. 1116, LY, size N0, 1R, preferably the typehaving duplicate filter bodies wherein one filter body can be closed offfor cleaning purposes and the other filter body left in operation, untilboth can again be connected for filtering purposes. In this type, thehead is attached to the tank and the filter body is removed forrepacking and cleaning.

A heater 28 is mounted on the tank !5 to one side of the filter elementand above the pump 2%) and motor 2!. The heater shown is an electricalresistance type heater, well known in the electrical heater art, and isfor the purpose of heating oil passing through the filtering unit inorder to reduce its viscosity and thus facilitate flow through the unit.Electrical conductors 29 and 30 connect into heater 28 and motor 2!respectively with both cables 29 and 30 connecting into switch panel 3|mounted on front wall of tank i5. A conductor cord 32 of substantiallength is wound and hung from supporting bracket 33. When the unit hasbeen moved to the desired location, cord 32 is plugged into a source ofelectrical supply. By actuation of either switch 3m or 31b or bothelectric current can be supplied to. either the heater or motor, or toboth, as desired, because the heater and motor are actuated fromseparate switches 3l-a or 3th on the switch panel 3!.

In some applications, cooling may be required as where a big bearing orgear case is running improperly and heating occurs. The inventioncontemplates also, connecting a cooler into the unit, at a users optionand need, which cooler may easily be attached in series with the heater.A cooler wherein cold water is used as the coolant has been foundsuitable for the purpose. It is noted that when the cooler is used it isnot necessary to use the heater, hence the heater is closed off from thecirculation system and flow directed to the cooler. When the heater isin use the cooler is out of the system either by closing valves orremoving the cooler entirely from the unit.

The tank i5 is connected by pipe 49, three-way valve 4! and pipe 42 topump 20, which pipes 49 and 42 combine to form a conduit running fromthe tank to the pump. Discharge from pump 2t passes into pipes 43 andthence to three-way valve 44 which valve 44 can be set to have thedischarge of pump pass through filter elements 23 and 24 or to by-passfilter elements 23 and 24. While it is an unusual occurrence when filterelements 23 and 24: are by-passed, there are occasions when it becomesdesirable and three-way valve can be operated to divert flow to pipe 45around filter elements 23 and '24 and heater 28. If: flow is. directedto the filter elements 23 and it passes through pipe 4%, which pipe 46and pipe. 4-3 combine to form a conduit connecting pump. it with filterelements 23 and 24. Flow leaves filter elements 23 and 24 through pipe471 and enters heater 28. Heater 23 is controlled by switch 3.1a, hencethis switch determines whether heater 28: heats any liquid passingtherethrough or not. From heater 28 flow goes into pipe 48., tothree-way valve 49 and thence to fiexible tubing 53] or pipe 54, whichpipe 54 leads to the tank l5. Flexible tubing 53 has a suitableconnection with a crankcase 5| of machinery for delivering liquid tosaid crankcase 5! or any other lubricant container of machinery. Returnflow from crankcase .5! is through flexible tubing 52, to. three-wayvalve 4!. Pipe 41, heater 28, pipe 48: and flexible tubing 501 allcombine to form a conduit. connecting the filter elements 23 and 24 withthe crankcase 5!. The flexible tubing 52 and pipe 432 combine to form aconduit between the crankcase 5i and pump 20. Further, flexible tubing52 has a sight-glass 53 mounted in said tubing 52 to give a visualindication of flow through the tubing 52. When a stream of flushin-goilis passed through hose Elli it passes through a nozzle on the end of thehose member to thus discharge a stream of high velocity and pressure,which stream may be guided by hand to be squirted around in themachinery to knock off loose dirt, etc; or the stream may be alow-velocity, free-flowing stream for volume recirculation or a simpleslow lubricating stream to flood out contaminants. The same fiow rateapplies for both methods.

When flexible tubing and 52 are removed firom crankcase 5! and it isdesired to change position of the unit the tubing 50 and 52 are woundcircularly about the projection IS on top of tank It. This allows theunit to be moved without the tubing 50 and 52 becoming fouled and alsolends to the; compactness of the unit.

From the foregoing, description it can clearly be seen, that a unit. ispresented thatis; compact and portable; capable of being: manuallymcveil; r m place; to place and one that: takesun a: imum amount of:space for. storage,

Referring now to Figure, 3,. a. diagrammatic. View of; flow throu h theunit; of one use. to. which the; apparatus may b put is; sh wn whereintank. it is filled with a. contaminated liquid, such as lubricating oildrained from. machinery and. it; is desired to filter said contaminatedlubricatin oil and. return it to tanl; l5. For operatipm three-way valve4|: is set; to connect pip s; 410 and N r a c nduit between tank: is.pumn- 2t. Conductor 32 has been plugged, into a. sourceof electricityand switch 3lb has been actuated to set motor 2i into operation. Pump20. is; in: operation and draws liquid from tank l5 through the conduitformed by pipes 4!]. and 42- into pump. 2% The liquid is discharged frompump 20: into pipe 43 and three way valve 44- is set to direct. flowthrough three-way valve 44 into pipe 46.. Pipes 43 and 46 and three-wayvalve 44 form a conduit between the pump 20 and filter elements, 23 and24. From filter elements 23 and 2.4, flow goes through pipe 41 to heater28, which heater; may be on or off as determined. by switch 3.1a, to.pipe 48. Three-way valve 49 is set to directflow from pipe 48 into pipe5.41. The pipe 4.1, heater 28, pipe 48 and pipe 54 all combine to form aconduit connecting the filter elements 23 and 24 with the tank I5. Itcan be seen that this. circuit is just a circulation through the unititself and recirculates the contaminated liquid from and returns it totank [5. until it is finally determined to be clean.

If it is desired to use the unit to clean a contaminated liquid fromsome source other than tank !5, flexible tubing 52 is connected into theoutlet, for instance the outlet of a crankcase of machinery, andflexible tubing 50 is connected into the inlet. Figure 5 shows the cycleof op eration, namely flexible tubing 52- and pipe 42 forming a conduitfrom the source of contaminated liquid to the pump 2a, through three-wayvalve 4! and sight glass 53. Flow from pump 20 is through pipe 43,three-way valve 44 and pipe 46 to filter elements 23 and 24 aspreviouslydescribed. From filter elements 23 and 24, a con-- duitbetween filter elements 23 and. 24 and the source of contaminated liquidis formed by pipe ll, heater 28, pipe 48, through threeeway valve 49 andflexible tubing 51 Circulation is continued until observation throughsighteglass 53, or tests,

shows that the contaminated liquid isclean.

When tank I5 is filled with a flushing oil, which term flushing oil mayalso include sol-vents alone or mixed with a flushing oil, and it isdesired to use the unit to clean machinery, Figures 4:, 5 and 6 showdiagrammatically the different operations that take place. The machinerymust first bedrained of lubricant andflexible tubing: 50 is connectedinto the inlet to the machinery and flex-l ible tubing 52 leads awayfrom the outlet of the machinery. Conductor 32 is plugged into a sourceof electricity, motor 21 is started by act-21.1- ating switch 3lb andheater 2B is. turned on or left on? as the operator desires, dependingupon the nature of the flushing oil. It is first neces.- sary to fillthe unit and machinery with flushing oil before a circulation can beestablished which circulation is necessary in order to flush awaycontaminating material from the machinery... Figure 4 shows pipes 40 and42 connected through three-way valve 41 to pump. 20. Pump. 2!): drawsflushing oil from tank It forcing it; through: pipe.

46m filter'elements 23 and 24,pipe 41 and heater 28. The flushing oilflows through pipe 48, through three-way valve 49 which is set toconnect into flexible tubing 50. Flushing oil is delivered to machinery,such as crankcase from tank [5 until it is full or measured at correctlevel after which the flushing oil starts returning through flexibletubing 52 and fills tubing 52. When the flushing oil is observed inflexible tubing 52 by looking at sight glass 53, or measured in thecrankcase, the unit and crankcase 5| are then full of flushing oil andeverything is in readiness to re-circulate the flushing oil through theunit and crankcase 5|.

Three-way valve 4| is then turned to join the flexible tubing 52 andpipe 42 and close oif flow from the tank I5 as shown in Figure 5. Flowcontinues from the pump 25 to the filter elements 23 and 24 to filterany contaminating substances out of the flushing oil and return cleanflushing oil to crankcase 5!. The circulation continues throughcrankcase 5! until observation at sightglass 53 shows that the flushingoil is returning from crankcase 5| clean, an indication that all thecontaminating matter has been cleansed from the machinery or laboratorytests may be made of the returning flushing oil.

When the flushing oil returns clean, it is time to stop the cyclingoperation and return the flushing oil to storage in tank 15. 'Ihree-wayvalve 49 is then turned to disconnect pipe 3-3 and flexible tubing 55and connect pipe 68 with pipe 54 leading to tank I5. Flow is then fromcrank case 5], flexible tubing 52, pipe 42, pump 29, pipe 46, filterelements 23 and 2t, pipe 47, heater 28, pipe 48, pipe 54 and intostorage tank 45 until all flushing oil is removed. from the crankcaseand the unit. It is noted that the flushing oil should be returned totank 15 cleaned and ready for reuse, hence it should be sent throughfilter elements 23 and 24 and not through by-pass pipe 35 when beingreturned to tank l5.

While the invention has been described for several uses, it is to beunderstood that the words which have been used are words of descriptionrather than of limitation, and that practice of the invention within thescope of the appended claims may be resorted to Without departing fromthe true scope of the invention in all its aspects.

I claim:

1.A compact flushing and filtering unit for flushing oil used to cleanmachinery comprising a base member having front and rear portions, atank on the rear of the base member for flushing oil, a pump and pumpactuating means mounted on the front of the base member, a filterelement connected by a conduit with the pump, a second conduit formed bytwo branch pipes connected by a three-way valve running from the filterelement to the machinery, a branch pipe running from the three-way valveto the tank connecting the filter element into the tank when thethree-way valve is operated to close the conduit between the filterelement and the machincry, a conduit formed by two branch pipesconnected by a second three-way valve connecting the pump and tank, anda return conduit from the machinery connected into the second mentionedthree-way valve connecting the return conduit to the pump or the tankwith the pump depending upon the setting of the second mentionedthree-way valve.

2. A compact flushing and filtering unit for flushing oil used to cleanmachinery comprising a base member having front and rear portions,

a tank on the rear of the base member for flush ing oil, a pump and pumpactuating means mounted on the front of the base member, a filterelement mounted on the front of the tank and above the pump and pumpactuating means, a conduit connecting the pump and filter element, asecond conduit formed by two branch pipes connected by a three-way valverunning from the filter element to the machinery, a branch pipe runningfrom the three-way valve to the tank connecting the filter element intothe tank when the three-way valve is operated to close the conduitbetween the filter element and the machincry, a conduit formed by twobranch pipes connected by a second three-way valve connecting the pumpand tank, and a return conduit from the machinery connected into thesecond mentioned three-way valve connecting the return conduit to thepump or the tank with the pump depending upon the setting of the secondmentioned three-way valve.

3. A portable and compact flushing and filtering unit for flushing oilused to clean machinery comprising a base member having front and rearportions, wheels mounted on the back portion of the base member forrolling the filtering unit from place to place when change of positionis desired, a support on the front of the base member, said support andwheels supporting the filtering unit in a vertical position when thefiltering unit is stationary, a tank on the rear of the base member forflushing oil, handles mounted on the tank to serve as hand grips inrolling the filtering unit from place to place on the wheels, a pump andpump actuating means mounted on the front of the base member, a filterelement mounted on the front of the tank and above the pump and pumpactuating means, a conduit connecting the pump and filter element, asecond conduit formed by two branch pipes connected by a three-way valverunning from the filter element to the machinery, a branch pipe runningfrom the three-way valve to the tank connecting the filter element intothe tank when the threeway valve is operated to close the conduitbetween the filter element and the machinery, a conduit formed by twobranch pipes connected by a second three-way valve connecting the pumpand tank, and a return conduit from the machinery connected into thesecond mentioned three-way valve connecting the return conduit to thepump or the tank with the pump depending upon the setting of the secondmentioned three-way valve.

l. A compact flushing and filtering unit for flushing oil used to cleanmachinery comprising a base member having front and rear portions, atank on the rear of the base member for flushing oil, a pump and pumpactuating means mounted on the front of the base member, a filterelement mounted on the front of the tank and above the pump and pumpactuating means, a conduit connecting the pump and filter element, asecond conduit formed by two branch pipes connected by a three-way valverunning from the filter element to the machinery, a heater elementmounted in and forming part of the second conduit, a branch pipe runningfrom the three-way valve to the tank connecting the filter element intothe tank when the three-way valve is operated to close the conduitbetween the filter element and th machinery, a conduit formed by twobranch pipes connected by a second three-way valve connecting the pumpand tank, and a return conduit from the machinery connected into thesecond mentioned three-Way valve connecting the return conduit to thepump or the tank with the pump depending upon the setting of the secondmentioned three-Way valve.

5. A compact flushing and filtering unit for flushing oil used to cleanmachinery comprising a base member having front and rear portions, atank on the rear of the base member for flushing oil, a pump and pumpactuating means mounted on the front of the base member, a filterelement connected by a conduit with the pump, a second conduit runningfrom the filter element to machinery, a branch pipe running from thesecond conduit to the tank, valve means operable to connect the secondconduit and branch pipe to direct fioW from the filter into the tank orfrom the filter to the machinery depending upon the setting of the valvemeans, a conduit connecting the pump and tank, a return conduit from themachinery connecting into the conduit between the pump and tank andvalve means operable to REFERENCES CITED The following references are ofrecord in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,065,384. Lomax Dec. 22, 19361,652,423 Belke Dec. 13, 1927 1,870,885 Alsop Aug. 9, 1932 2,325,169Alsop July 27, 1943 1,951,809 Renfrew Mar. 20, 1934 1,305,735 MorrisJune 3, 1919 2,217,329 Bentley Oct. 8, 1940 2,068,394 Burckhalter et a1.Jan. 19, 1937 2,073,026 Renfrew et a1 Mar. 9, 1937

